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Cycling: Jan Paul Morales retains Ronda Pilipinas title

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ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2017/sports/03/04/cycling-030417.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">Jan Paul Morales, of Marikina, carries the checkered flag as he celebrates winning the LBC Ronda Pilipinas in Iloilo City on Saturday. <cite>Photo courtesy of Ronda Pilipinas</cite></div></figcaption></figure></div>Jan Paul Morales of Navy Standard Insurance ruled the Stage 14 criterium to capture the LBC Ronda Pilipinas title at Iloilo Business Park on Saturday.Morales, 31, timed in 1 hour, 5 minutes and 8 seconds to claim the 50-kilometer final lap and the nationwide race that began in Ilocos Sur a month ago.After 14 stages and a whopping race distance of 1,782.6 kilometers, Morales emerged with the best overall time of 44:55:35, or a massive 13.45-minute lead over teammate Rudy Roque, to become the first Ronda back-to-back winner.The Calumpang, Marikina City native also joined Santy Barnachea atop the all-time wins list with 2.<ul class="op-related-articles" title="Read:">	<li>Read: <a href=" http://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/02/28/17/will-morales-secure-ronda-pilipinas-repeat">Will Morales secure Ronda Pilipinas repeat? </a></li></ul>Barnachea won it in the inaugural stage in 2011 and 2015.The other past Ronda champions are Albay&#x27;s Irish Valenzuela (2012), Manila&#x27;s bet Mark Galedo (2013) and Butuan City&#x27;s Reimon Lapaza (2014).It was a dominating performance for Morales, who won a total of 6 stages, topping the Stage 2 criterium in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, the Angeles-Subic Stage 3, the Pili-Daet Stage 7 and the Stage 9 criterium in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.He was also the sprint and king of the mountain winner.Morales pocketed P1,228,500 including the P1-million top purse.Morales&#x27; Navy team also won the team event, with Kinetix Lab-Army and Go for Gold finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively.When it was over, Morales took the black and white checkered flag and raised it with his right hand as he approached the finish line.&quot;I&#x27;m happy as well as relieved that it was over,&quot; said the soft-spoken Morales in Filipino. &quot;It was really a difficult race, tougher than last year. I&#x27;m glad I could finally rest because I really gave it all just to win this race.&quot;Morales said he dedicates his recent feat to his family--wife Leni, six-year-old daughter Janel and two-year-old son Jan Paul, Jr.And he believes luck also something to do with it.&quot;They say you will get lucky when your wife is pregnant, I guess I was because even though it was really a tough race, I never really encountered trouble,&quot; said Morales, whose wife is two months pregnant.<ul class="op-related-articles" title="Read:">	<li>Read: <a href=" http://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/03/02/17/cycling-morales-rules-stage-12-closes-in-on-ronda-title"> Morales rules Stage 12, closes in on Ronda title </a></li></ul>Roque, 25, ended up second overall in the indvidual race with a time of 45:09:20 while Army&#x27;s Cris Joven finished third in 45:12:16.Rounding up the top 10 were Go for Gold&#x27;s Bryant Sepnio (45:23:37), RC Cola-NCR&#x27;s Leonel Dimaano (45:23:51), Navy&#x27;s Ronald Lomotos (45:24:41), Daniel Ven Carino (45:27:35) and skipper Lloy Lucien Reynante (45:28:33), and Army&#x27;s Reynaldo Navarro (45:31:11) and Ronnilam Quita (45:32:25).Interestingly, this was also the farewell race of the 38-year-old Reynante and his Navy teammate 37-year-old Joel Calderon as the two announced their retirement.&quot;I&#x27;m planning to coach after this,&quot; said Reynante, a 3-time Tour runner-up and top 10 finisher in countless others.&quot;I&#x27;ll just tend my farmlands and really leave cycling for good,&quot; said Calderon, the 2009 Tour King and runner-up to Barnachea in Ronda 6 years back.(For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN <a href="http://sports.abs-cbn.com" target="_blank">Sports website.</a>)

Jan Paul Morales of Navy Standard Insurance ruled the Stage 14 criterium to capture the LBC Ronda Pilipinas title at Iloilo Business Park on Saturday.

Jan Paul Morales of Navy Standard Insurance ruled the Stage 14 criterium to capture the LBC Ronda Pilipinas title at Iloilo Business Park on Saturday.